Valve fix new EA app in Proton Experimental for Linux and Steam Deck

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

I had issues with Origin, so I avoided buying EA games whenever possible. I hope this new thing is less annoying. I don't even understand why it's allowed on Steam to have these intermediate launcher things. They never make anything easier, faster, or better in any way.

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Because it app is targeted for Windows, not Wine / Proton

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Because it app is targeted for Windows, not Wine / Proton

And that concerns me a bit because we might always have a moving target with supporting Windows games, especially if Microsoft ever makes a big platform change. I can only hope that, as steam deck numbers continue to rise, more game companies will make supporting Linux a priority, even if it's not their top priority.

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Call me cynical, but I’m leaning more towards “does it break Proton/Steam Deck? Yes, you said? Alright, ship it!”.

And you’re making a big assumption that EA QC actually exists in the first place 😂 if it does, the two people still employed there likely have their hands full testing the ”surprise mechanics” of FIFA 2023.


Last edited by Appelsin on 3 November 2022 at 3:23 pm UTC

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Because it app is targeted for Windows, not Wine / Proton

And that concerns me a bit because we might always have a moving target with supporting Windows games, especially if Microsoft ever makes a big platform change.

It's very difficult for them to do that, though. Too much legacy Windows software that would also break.

does it break Proton/Steam Deck? Yes, you said?

It is most likely "Does it break Steam Deck? -- What is a Steam Deck?"
In other words they didn't think much about testing. If you want to see how EA QA is just look at FIFA 23's reviews.

EA doesn't care about anything that's not Windows or console. It's just not in their culture and I actually doubt they have the needed skills in that company to support anything outside their little box. I mean let's be honest, Origin doesn't really work even in Windows, and the new app seems to be just as bad a piece of software as Origin was. These people aren't really good at what they do. EA thrived all these years not from making great games, but from a handful of strong IP franchises such as FIFA and NHL, people keep buying because of the license year after year, not such much because the games are good.

The only real hope is EA's competitors finally realizing how weak EA's games are and finally find the courage to directly compete with them. Like how Cities Skylines wiped out EA's Sim City line after EA ran it into the ground. I am waiting for somebody to pick up the Sims, too. And since FIFA pulled the license from EA, there is some hope for the sports game genre, too. Let's see!

For me, Proton Experimental broke cinematics in Borderlands 3 and Back4Blood.

EA thrived all these years not from making great games, but from a handful of strong IP franchises such as FIFA and NHL, people keep buying because of the license year after year, not such much because the games are good.

The only real hope is EA's competitors finally realizing how weak EA's games are and finally find the courage to directly compete with them. Like how Cities Skylines wiped out EA's Sim City line after EA ran it into the ground. I am waiting for somebody to pick up the Sims, too. And since FIFA pulled the license from EA, there is some hope for the sports game genre, too. Let's see!

It's a bit sad to be honest, EA was amazing in the past, a ton of good titles, but nowadays it has only two untouchable titles: FIFA and The Sims (TS5 will release soon)

But I disagree that the success of FIFA is because of the FIFA's name, the success is because the competitor is eFootball, which has an atrocious release, making even the most hardcore fan of PES start playing FIFA.

Another thing is that licensing is important to this kind of games, and EA has a ton of money to do this. Even if EA renames it to EA Soccer or whatever, it'll still sell a lot.

There's UFL too, but who knows when it will release and it's only for consoles initially.

> On Steam Deck, Valve control the drivers for you so it's fine.

This is partly why I love my Steam Deck.

Valve have shown how committed they are to ensuring things 'just work' on Linux, so having a device from Valve just massively simplifies gaming in a lot of ways. The thing just auto updates, and Valve can ensure the entire OS stack is configured right for best compatibility and performance, so I know I'm getting more or less the best possible gaming experience on Linux that is available. PC gaming on easy mode.

Amazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Because it app is targeted for Windows, not Wine / Proton

And that concerns me a bit because we might always have a moving target with supporting Windows games, especially if Microsoft ever makes a big platform change. I can only hope that, as steam deck numbers continue to rise, more game companies will make supporting Linux a priority, even if it's not their top priority.

I've said it a few times lately and I'll say it again: I'd like to see Valve push this to the next level.

We have Proton, and we have now Steam Deck Compatibility Ratings, and Valve's system for game testing.

And those are great, that's drastically improving the situation for gaming on Linux. It's putting useful information right in the hands of consumers, letting them know which games are working well and which ones aren't before they buy a game. That's leaning consumers towards games which are compatible and away from games which aren't, which is again good from our perspective since it creates a real incentive for game developers to get Verified if they want to see their games advertised as 'Great on Deck'.

That's all well and good, but we still have the major problem of:

"I can buy a game on my Steam Deck that is promoted as 'Great on Deck', that is Verified, works perfectly, then 2 hours later, the publisher can update the game to completely break it, making it impossible to run the game, Valve can reclassify the game as Unsupported, and technically speaking 'this is fine', I do not have valid complaint to make to the publisher or Valve, because the game publisher never supported Linux, or the Steam Deck, officially."

I think the solution might be to add 'Proton' as a 'Platform' on Steam. Alongside Linux, MacOS and Windows. Or grant developers/publishers the option of marking Linux as 'supported' if their Windows game runs great in Proton. But this would come with the requirement for the publishers/developers to acknowledge that if they promote Linux/Proton as a supported platform, they are required to ensure their game runs on Linux natively or via Proton, and if they fail to do so, consumers would be entitled to an automatic refund.

Put the choice in the publishers hands, let them decide if they want to guarantee that compatibility, but if they do, they have to maintain it, otherwise they'll be paying out a lot of refunds.


Last edited by gradyvuckovic on 3 November 2022 at 9:39 pm UTC

Easier solution for regressions: allow people to keep older versions of the game installed or downgrade like GOG does instead of forcing people to update to a possibly non-functioning version. Won't work for multiplayer games, but works for the other ~70% of the games.

I don't even understand why it's allowed on Steam to have these intermediate launcher things. .

It is allowed because there are enough people dumb enough to still buy it.
This whole fiasko is a perfect example on why a secondary launcher without any purpose should be 100% boycotted.
Secondary launchers like for example from paradox that provide modding functionality are borderline acceptable, everything else should die and burn in hell.

EA doesn't care about anything that's not Windows or console. revenue

There, fixed it for you ;)

Why do game companies continue to generate ill will from their customers who don't want these annoying launchers?

What does it do for them? Has anyone ever bought something off of a third party launcher popping up on a game on Steam? Ever? Maybe I'm wrong, I dunno.